Kuwaiti parliament dissolved over fuel price row

Kuwait City, Oct 16 (IANS) Kuwait’s cabinet has resigned and parliament has been dissolved, triggering early elections following disputes between MPs and the government over fuel price increases in the oil-rich country.

Emir of Kuwait Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad al-Sabah issued a decree on Sunday to dissolve the parliament, a few hours after an emergency government meeting, BBC cited the state-run Kuwait News Agency, or KUNA as reporting.

As oil prices around the world stay low, Kuwait’s government has cut some benefits including fuel subsidies, hiking the cost of petrol by up to 80 per cent. This led to growing dissent.

Kuwait’s parliament has the most powers of any elected body in the Gulf region, but the ruling al-Sabah family has the final word over all key decisions and has dissolved the legislature repeatedly in the past.

The government would have completed its normal four-year term in July 2017.

Earlier on Sunday, Speaker Marzouq al-Ghanem called for early elections, saying the country faces “economic security and regional challenges” and “the only way” to deal with them was to “form a new government line-up”.